Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Fossil Footprints Discovered In Iran

Two dinosaur footprints have newly been discovered in the fossil-rich area of Kerman, raising the number of the footprints discovered there so far to five. Many fossil treasures have been discovered in Kerman province, central Iran, prompting experts to name the area as “Iran’s paleontology heaven” . The discoveries include fish fossils from the Devonian era (dating to 395 million to 365 million years ago, from the Paleozoic era), dinosaur fossils dating to sometime in between 195 to 65 million years ago, and some mammal fossils dating to 2 to 7 million years ago.

Iran is a fossil-rich county that has its say in the paleontology world. Fossil studies were reignited in Iran after a 26-year gap, two years ago in Maragheh area, northwest of Iran, expanding later on to Kerman province. The excavations in Kerman have so far led to the discovery of fossils of giant animals dating to some one million year ago.